The present invention relates to a vehicle hub, and more particularly to a vehicle hub having improved life and bearing cooling.
Typical vehicle hubs include mounting seats for inboard and outboard bearings. The bearings are fitted into the hub and allow the hub to rotate on the end of a relatively stationary axle assembly. To allow the hubs to rotate freely and to reduce heat caused by friction, the bearings must be lubricated. A lubricant chamber is therefore located in the hub intermediate the bearing seats to retain a lubricating medium such as grease. The hubs commonly provide rather large capacity lubricating chambers to retain a large volume of lubricating medium to provide long lasting performance.
As the lubricant chamber is increased, however, a larger quantity of lubricant is required to completely fill the lubricating cavity. Further, as the lubricant cavity is increased in diameter, the lubricating medium undergoes greater centrifugal force as the hub rotates about the axle. The lubricating medium is thrown away from the bearings, thus making proper lubrication more difficult. The reduced lubrication increases the effects of friction and heat possibly leading to a bearing failure. This centrifuge effect is a particular problem with viscous lubricating mediums such as synthetic grease.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved vehicle hub having improved bearing cooling and improved compatibility with synthetic grease.